{"id":14995,"date":"2022-04-21T15:19:10","date_gmt":"2022-04-21T13:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/?p=14995"},"modified":"2022-04-21T15:19:11","modified_gmt":"2022-04-21T13:19:11","slug":"climbing-documentary-the-alpinist-is-absolutely-thrilling-terrifying-and-mesmerizing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/blog\/2022\/04\/21\/climbing-documentary-the-alpinist-is-absolutely-thrilling-terrifying-and-mesmerizing\/","title":{"rendered":"Climbing Documentary The Alpinist Is \u201cAbsolutely Thrilling, Terrifying And Mesmerizing\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Winner of the 2021 Critics Choice Documentary Award for Best Sports Documentary, The Alpinist<\/em> is now streaming first on Showmax.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The breakout climbing documentary has a 93% critics\u2019 rating on Rotten Tomatoes<\/em>, with Variety<\/em> calling it, \u201cAbsolutely thrilling, terrifying and mesmerizing,\u201d and Time Out<\/em> advising, \u201cPack some motion sickness tablets and experience it on the biggest possible screen.\u201d
On a vast, frozen landscape, a tiny speck is moving, navigating the sheer vertical plane with measured assuredness, inching steadily higher, and higher, towards a mountain peak far above the clouds.
The speck, it turns out, is Canadian rock climber, alpinist, free solo legend and untamed spirit, Marc-Andr\u00e9 Leclerc, the subject of The Alpinist<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Marc-Andr\u00e9 climbs alone, far from the limelight. On remote alpine faces, the free-spirited 23-year-old makes some of the boldest solo ascents in history. Yet, he draws scant attention. With no cameras, no rope, and no margin for error, Marc-Andr\u00e9\u2019s approach is the essence of solo adventure. \u00a0 Intrigued by these quiet accomplishments, award-winning veteran filmmakers Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen (The Dawn Wall<\/em>) set out to make a film about Marc-Andr\u00e9. But he\u2019s an elusive subject: nomadic and publicity shy, he doesn\u2019t own a phone or car, and is reluctant to let the film crew in on his pure vision of climbing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the crew struggles to keep up, Marc-Andr\u00e9\u2019s climbs grow more daring. The cameras follow \u2013 where they can \u2013 as he takes on some of the most challenging ice climbs (frozen waterfalls!) and mixed terrain on the planet, including the first solo attempt on the Infinite Patience route on the Emperor Face of Mount Robson in the Canadian Rockies, and a historic winter ascent on Patagonia\u2019s daunting Torre Egger. Elite climbers are amazed by his accomplishments, while others worry that he is risking too much\u2026\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWhile solo alpinism might be the purest, most adventurous form of climbing,\u201d Peter observes, \u201cit\u2019s also the deadliest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The documentary claims that as many as half of the world\u2019s alpinists have lost their lives practising their craft, a fact that many consider irresponsible and indefensible, but which is also intrinsic to the allure of the sport for some of the climbers interviewed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Alex Honnold, the star of the Oscar-winning Free Solo<\/em>, says in The Alpinist<\/em>, \u201cFree soloing is a very emotionally-charged subject and so it draws strong reactions from everybody. If you fall and die, everyone thinks you\u2019re an idiot. You\u2019re a risk taker, a daredevil, like \u2018What an idiot.\u2019 If you succeed, then everybody celebrates you as a big hero. But the reality is you\u2019re the same person either way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other interviews include climbing greats like Reinhold Messner, who made the first solo ascent of Mount Everest; friends like Squamish climbing icon Hevy Duty; Marc-Andr\u00e9\u2019s mother, Michelle Kuipers, and his girlfriend, Brette Harrington, a highly regarded climber in her own right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s the quiet, one-on-one moments with Marc-Andr\u00e9 himself that are most arresting.\u00a0Diagnosed with ADHD as a child, Marc-Andr\u00e9 is soft-spoken and awkward in front of the camera, but there\u2019s a constant crackle of energy fizzing beneath the surface – like he might take off at a moment\u2019s notice and disappear up a mountain…\u00a0
As Marc-Andr\u00e9 says in The Alpinist<\/em>, \u201cWhen you\u2019re in the mountains, with a mission, it\u2019s like all of the superficialities of life just sort of evaporate, and you can often find yourself in a deeper state of mind, and that can stick with you for a while after a big climb. You appreciate everything so much\u2026that you take for granted most of the time. It\u2019s kind of funny. The actual achievement doesn\u2019t really change your life, like you think it might, but what you\u2019re left with is the journey that got you to that point.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s so unvarnished in the interview,\u201d Peter told Base Magazine<\/em>. \u201cHe\u2019s clearly never been media trained, which is wonderful, and you see him wrestling with his facial expressions and telling his story in an earnest way… He\u2019s a very thoughtful person.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canadian ice climber Will Gadd says watching The Alpinist <\/em>is \u201cas close to experiencing high-level alpine climbing as anyone will get without hearing the whine of rockfall on a big face.\u201d Or as Brandon Pullan, Marc-Andr\u00e9\u2019s friend and fellow climber, wrote in Gripped Magazine. <\/em>\u201cThe Alpinist <\/em>is everything a climbing film should be, and shows us why Marc-Andr\u00e9 Leclerc was the best.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n